Author goes where unnamed 'Trek' characters have gone before

If you've ever beamed down to a turbulent planet with the Captain and the Doctor . . .

If you're the lowest-ranking crew member trapped in a cave with a Borgovian Land Worm . . .

If you're within earshot when the heroic First Officer declares, "That's a risk we're going to have to take" . . .

You might be a Redshirt, and you're not likely to survive past the next commercial break.

But don't worry. John Scalzi has your back in "Redshirts: A Novel With Three Codas" (Tor), which manages to pack a witty sendup of TV sci-fi clichés, a full-featured sci-fi novel and a hefty helping of metafiction into the same delightful book.

Scalzi will visit Milwaukee's Boswell Book Co. on June 11.

The term "redshirt" comes from fans of the original "Star Trek" series, after the color uniform worn by expendable extras who met their dooms early in episodes.

But the notion of what a redshirt is has gone boldly into the greater science-fiction world, too.

"The moment that crystallized it for me," Scalzi said in a phone interview, came while he was working as a story consultant on the TV series "Stargate Universe." He read a script that included a scene of a person walking down a corridor. The minor character wasn't named. The script simply said, "Redshirt walks down the hall."

"Dude's not going to make it," Scalzi thought.

As a novelist ("Old Man's War," "Zoe's Tale") and critic, Scalzi has a sharp eye for the cheap shortcuts, tricks and plot absurdities of "Star Trek" and other TV shows, and mocks them suitably in "Redshirts." Read it and learn the astonishing secret of how to bioengineer a planet-saving vaccine in less than six hours. In that respect, "Redshirts" comes from the same fictional family tree as the movie "Galaxy Quest," which has its own self-aware redshirt character.

Scalzi also has an ear for the hyperanimated dialogue of these shows:

" 'Was the captain particularly dramatic?' Cassaway asked.

" 'What is "particularly dramatic" in this context?' Dahl asked.

" 'Like this,' Mbeke said, and then grabbed both of Dahl's shoulders and shook them. 'Damn it, man! There is no try! Only do!' "

"Dahl set down the vial so it was not accidentally shaken out of his grip.

But, unlike "Galaxy Quest," "Redshirts" does not limit itself to parody and satire. It brings on the doppelgängers, but it makes them matter. The ensigns who were smart enough to be assigned to a leading starship realize something has gone wrong and then, while averting sudden nasty deaths (hello, harpoon-launching killer robots), figure out what to do about it. It's a daring, risky plan, but it just might work.

"It's not enough to point out the absurdity of the redshirt situation," Scalzi said. "This is also their lives. It's a very serious situation to them."

Television enters the novel in more than one way. Scalzi mocks the inauthentic and cavalier ways some sci-fi shows treat science. As a creative consultant for TV's "SGU," he was a quality-control inspector for the science of the show.

"The goal . . . in TV shows is not to be 100% scientifically accurate," he said. "The point of it in TV shows is to get you to the credits . . . without breaking your suspension of disbelief."

If a TV show gets the science that we really know today correct, then you can speculate on other stuff, he said.

For example, he suggested that a star seen in one segment of "SGU" be changed from a yellow one (like our sun) to a red dwarf, to fit astronomical reality.

"I've always been a huge science nerd. I wanted to be an astronomer until I hit the math wall in eighth grade," Scalzi said. Quadratic equations aside, he learned enough to write "The Rough Guide to the Universe" for stargazers, now in its second edition.

"Redshirts" is co-dedicated to a friend of Scalzi with a compelling interest in all things "Trek": Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher on "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

"I gave him an early look at the book. He was very encouraging and liked it very much," Scalzi said.

Wheaton is narrating the audiobook version of "Redshirts," which Scalzi considers perfect not only for the "Star Trek" connection. The two men, close in age, both grew up in suburban Los Angeles. "If you listen to the two of us talk, we have the same intonations. When he is reading my books for audiobooks, it is basically me (reading), except it's professionally done."

Wheaton also recorded the audiobook for Scalzi's "Fuzzy Nation," a reboot of H. Beam Piper's novel "Little Fuzzy," about an interplanetary prospector who discovers a furry little humanoid. The story probes the crucial question of whether the Fuzzies are sentient creatures.

Scalzi is pleased that some of his readers went back and read Piper's novel, making him feel like a contemporary musician who covered an older song and enticed listeners to reconsider the original.

While "Little Fuzzy" is in the public domain, Scalzi said, "We went to the estate: 'Read it, and if you like it, endorse it, and we'll give you a cut.'